Children can create a poster board collage using photographs of their family members that they bring from home. In addition to the photographs, students build their vocabulary by cutting and pasting sight words (mom, dad, family) into the collage. Once the poster board is completed, display it in the classroom. This activity is particularly helpful at the beginning of a new preschool year, when children may be more likely to experience separation anxiety. Children can ease their anxiety by viewing familiar faces in the classroom.
Children can use a digital camera to take pictures of shapes in their everyday surroundings, and create poster board collages for each shape (triangle, square, circle, rectangle.) For example, the chalkboard, a ruler and the playground slide might all be photographs used on the rectangle-themed poster board. Children will enjoy using the digital camera while learning to identify shapes in a variety of settings.
Children can create poster board collages for a variety of common colors (red, green, blue, yellow). Students will need to choose pictures of the correct color objects from a stack of photographs provided by the teacher. Have the children cut out the objects and stick them to the poster board. Children can also incorporate vocabulary into their collage by cutting and pasting the word for the color they are studying, or by using scrabble tiles to spell out the word on the poster board.
Poster boards are the traditional way to create and display collages in the classroom. But children may enjoy working on other collage craft projects. Students can create their own memory books (for example, of their summer break or a class field trip) with photographs of the places they visited and the activities they participated in. Children can turn a smaller photo collage into a puzzle by creating a collage on letter-sized card stock, then laminating the project and cutting it into puzzle pieces. An alternative to the two-dimensional collage ideas would be for students to create a keepsake memory box, jewelry box or treasure chest. Each child would need to bring in a shoe box from home and decorate it with photographs. The box may be varnished for increased durability.